Timmins doubles Gold Miners

A well-rested Timmins Rock side skated out to an early three-goal lead and never trailed as they went on to defeat the visiting Kirkland Lake Gold Miners 6-3 in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action Tuesday evening in front of 976 fans at McIntyre Arena.

With both clubs sporting retro jerseys in recognition of past teams from their respective communities, it was Timmins that set the tone early.

Skating in their first league contest since December 22, the Rock showed no ill effects of their lengthy layoff as they stormed out to a 3-0 lead after one period of play on tallies from Luka Bolduc, Riley Brousseau and Linden Spencer.

Regrouping in the middle stanza, Kirkland Lake got one back 46 seconds in on Gregory Trudeau-Paquet’s 24th goal of the season.

Timmins countered though a couple shifts later to go back up by three as Gage Tremblay notched his sixth of the campaign.

Each side added one more marker each before the second period was complete with Aiden Wagner connecting for the Gold Miners while A.J. Campbell countered for the Rock.

Moving on to the final frame, Kirkland Lake moved closer midway the session as Trudeau-Paquet picked up his second of the night to reach the 25-goal plateau for the first time in his NOJHL career.

However, Timmins tightened up defensively from there and eventually sealed the outcome in the late going as Tremblay put one into an empty net to finish off his second multi-marker night since joining the club back in November.

Spencer added a pair of assists to go with his goal as he registered a three-point performance for the first time in his stint in the league.

Tyler Masternak made 28 saves on the night to record the victory in goal for the Rock.

Gregory Brassard started in net for Kirkland Lake, but gave way to Dawson Rodin after the second Timmins tally.

Rodin suffered the setback in relief stopping 22 of 25 while Brassard handled four of six in just over 10 minutes of work.